Customer Reviews of (Intel BOXD945GCLF2)

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ConsActive Fan on Heatsink. What's up with that? A passive cooling solution would be so much better!

SummaryYou just can't beat the price for this board. Unfortunately, be sure to budget a few more bucks for a replacement chipset fan, or alternatively even more cash for a good passive heatsink. The heatsinks that are on the board look pretty cheap!

ProsGreat Board, just does what it needs to do. Used as a Windows Server 2003 NAS/DC/Routing/VM Host Box.

ConsNumerous Issues with this board. BIOS doesn't want to upgrade via iFLASH or Express BIOS Update, LOUD IGP Fan (fixed with Scythe's 40mm FAN) and has issues with on board GbE chip. Adding a second Ethernet network card will certainly kill it unless you upgrade to the latest BIOS.

SummaryBought this for a Windows Server 2003 EE NAS/DC/Routing/VM Host Box. Most features load fast and work fine Virtualized or not.

However there are four issues that really killed this board:

1. Loud GPU/IGP fan. It just gets too loud. Fixed it with a Scythe 40MM fan instead of the stock TNT fan. My board had to be replaced by NCIX once because the stock TNT fan just crapped out.

2. BIOS won't upgrade without a fight. Had to do the recovery method as suggested by one of Intel's support techs.

3. A BIOS related bug that can kill this box if there was a second Ethernet NIC added on the PCI slot. (A Wireless Card works fine, but an Ethernet card will lock up the system under Windows Server 2003 or XP) Fixed it with BIOS version LF94510J.86A.0171.2009.0403.0118

4. The ES version of the Atom 330 CPU was used in my board. I just only found it out today. ES's won't last long and I might need to get a replacement for this board by the end of the year if the ES chip does really fail.

I would give this board a 5, but given the issues above, I'd lower it to a 3.

ConsNoisy and crappy chipset fan, no PCIe support, no HDMI output, NIC is not supported by FreeNAS 0.69, though worked with nightly build 0.7.

SummaryBought this and Apex MI-008 case to build my own NAS/LAMP server. With such low power consumption and plenty of power behind dual core Atom it's perfect for 24x7 server. Combine that with a small Mini-ITX case like Apex MI-100 or MI-008 and now it looks great and has a size of a shoebox. Ubuntu 8.10 Server runs on it like a charm (after BIOS update).

ConsJust one PCI slot and not an express one at that. Northbridge fan not reliable.

SummaryThis is probably the best $/performance ITX board I have ever owned - beats Via's VT-310dp out of the water (except for encryption related tasks). It is too bad that it only has a single memory slot and only 2 SATA ports. Would have made a great NAS board. I highly recommend you find a fanless enclosure with heatpipe cooling and mod it to support this board. There is no reason that it has to be so loud.

SummaryBought this dual core atom board for a file server. There is only one ram slot which is kind of a bummer but I purchased a 2gb stick and i don't believe I'll need anything more. I was looking for something that was low power consumption and fast enough to serve some big files. So far this baby works pretty good. I installed windows home server and it runs pretty decent. I paired this up with a VIA sata card which gave me 2 more available hard drives to install. All in all I am happy with my purchase!

SummaryThis is a great CPU/board for a cheap mini-ITX rig that handles better than anything single-core. It's energy efficient and enough to playback 1080p x264/MKV (if you use CoreAVC). I used it in a system I built for my mother using an Apex MI-008 case.

The onboard graphics are seriously weak - don't expect to do anything with it. No you can't play Blu-ray on it, not that you'd want to since it lacks DVI, HDMI and S/PDIF.

The little POS fan is the worst. For some relief plug the fan into the second fan header - you can set it in the BIOS to run at 50%. I unplugged it altogether and slapped an unsecured 80mm fan over it. Not pretty but it works and is a lot quieter.

p.s. Anyone who complains about only one expansion slot needs to get their head examined - that's mini-ITX SPEC. Also is 2 SATA ports not enough? How many drives can you fit in a typical mini-ITX case? Narm.

The Intel Desktop Board D945GCLF2 is designed to support Internet-centric computing, delivering incredible capabilities in the new flexible Mini-ITX form factor. Featuring the integrated 45nm dual-core Intel Atom processor 330 and the Intel 945GC Express Chipset, this board is an energy-efficient solution for home users as well as for unique vertical markets. Designed with Intel?s leading edge 45nm Hi-k metal gate processor, this board delivers incredible opportunities to communicate, listen, watch, play, and learn via Internet connectivity.

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